02 July, 2009

Here a few unrelated, but interesting, items:StemsSeveral people have asked why VO stems are lighter than some others. The reason is that VO stems are cold forged. Many other stems, even some that cost considerably more, are "melt forged"or die cast. These less expensive process requires more metal, and weight, to archive adequate strength.Bones

The New York Times health blog, called Well, has a fascinating piece entitled, Is Bicycling Bad for Your Bones? It appears that competitive cyclist lose bone mass at an alarming rate.

In 2006, Aaron Smathers, then 29, was a graduate student in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at the University of Oklahoma, gathering data for a study of brittle bones in cyclists. One of his subjects was himself, since he’s been a bike racer for years. A recent scan had revealed that his bones were less dense than usual for a man his age. Not long after those results came in, he crashed during a race, snapping his collarbone.

MKS

We are getting a small shipment of MKS products next week so some of the half clips and other thing we're out of should be back in stock. A larger shipment with more items is due in a few weeks.

New VO Info Site

We're working on a new site that will have PDF and HTML versions of all our product instruction sheets as well as informational articles adapted from the VO Blog and detailed frame specs. It should go live very soon.

14 comments:

The "news" about bone loss in pro racers is actually pretty old news. Cycling, like swimming, is low impact and doesn't support bone density.

However, pro cyclists, or committed racers whether pro or not, do little else for exercise. If you walk a half-hour total every day, or carry your bike upstairs, or do some light weight workouts, or work in a job that has you lifting something a few times a day, you'll be fine. Hell, using iron cookware might be enough!

WRT bone density - I actually am glad to have some bone loss. It makes me lighter for going up hills and the greater amount of flex in my femurs and tibias allows my skeleton to "plane" better. I definitely feel faster when I climb and so have my two best friends who act as controls when I do my extra-rigorous scientific testing.

Endurance athletes suffer from bone density loss, among other bad bad stuff. Doesn't have anything to do with not bearing loads, etc. It's more about what your body has to do to itself to keep going at high exertion levels.

The low- to no-impact quality of pure road racing definitely matters, as far as I've read, but certainly the article in RR 40 (if I'm remembering the same one) makes the case for over-carbing being hard on muscle tissue (particularly the heart). From what I've read, even riding on rough roads is sufficient impact to provoke bone growth, as is frequent walking and even standing on climbs. It doesn't seem to affect pro mountain bikers, right?

IRT relying on the NYT for be all end all health advice is like relying on Consumer Reports for bicycle buying recommendations. Like what is often said of computers 'garbage in, garbage out" As Rick said old news, and cheap reporting.

I can't speak (write) with authority on this matter but I think it would be naive not to consider the use of performance enhancing drugs in pro cycling. While certain drugs promote bone growth, others can cause bone loss. I'm not aware of any insinuations being directed towards Chris Boardman but it strikes me as very odd that osteoporosis should afflict such a fit young man. Surely cycling cannot be more detrimental to bone health than couch surfing.